Pillow filling machine with suction creating means



MarchZ, 1948. TTNER 5 AL 2,437,196

PILLOW FILLING MACHINE WITH SUCTION CREATING MEANS Filed May l3, 1944 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 At iar'ne ys.

\ MarCh 1948- D. HUTTNER ET AL PILLOW FILLiNG MACHINE WITH SUCTION CREATING MEANS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 13, 1944- Attorneys.

Patented Mar. 2, 1948 UNITED STATES. PATENT OFFICE PILLOW FILLING. MACHINE WITH sUc'rIoN CREATING MEANS Daniel Huttner and Richard S. Kramer, Chicago, 111;; said Kramer assignor to said Huttner Application May 13,- 1944, Serial No. 535,457

2 Claims. 1

Our invention relates to the filling of pillows with down, feathers or other suitable'material, and more articularly to means for doin this work expeditiously or on a quantity basis, and one object of the present invention is to provide a machine for the above purpose which procures the thorough and uniform. filling of the pillow.

A further object of the invention is to provid a machine or the above character which employs suction to draw the filling material from the area of approach to the machine into the pillow case.

Another object of the invention is to procure the actual filling operation without the need of manual, service or attention.

An additional object or the invention is to pro-- vide a machine of the above character which is powerful and highly eificient. 1

An important object of the invention is to construct the novel machine along'lines of ruggedness and simplicity.

With the above objects in view and any others which may suggest themselves from the description to follow, a better understandingof the invention may be had by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Fig. l isa side elevation of the machine;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation;

Fig. 3 is a rear elevation I Fig. 4 is a top plan view, partly broken away;

Figs. 5 and 7 are vertical sections on the lines 5-5 and 1-1 of Fig. 4, respectively;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged vertical section on the line 6-6 of Fig. 4; and

Fig. 8 is a reduced section on the line 8-4! of Fig. 6, showing a part in a changed position.

It has been customary to fill pillows by blower pressure as an improvement over the old hand method. Usually, blower pressure is amply force ful to inject the down or other-material into the pillow case, but the direction ofthe filling force defeats the efficient distribution of the material. In other words, the pressure blast is direct from the entrance to the bottom of the pillow case, packing the material against such bottom while allowing only a lighter deposit of the material to fill the sides of the case. The material is thus unevenly distributed, requiring the pillow to be beaten or agitated before it can become evenly packed. The pressure process is thus inefficient' in principle, inexact in application and wasteful because additional attention is required before the product assumes the desired condition. It has therefore been our intention not only to employ suction instead of pressure, but to devise an appa- 2 ratus which utilizes suction in a highly efficient manner.

In accordance with the foregoing, specific reference to the drawings indicates the machine as a rectangular structure formed with corner posts 10, which carry caster wheels I l to facilitate moving the machine from one place to another.

The body l3 of the machine is of box type and is carried between the upper portions of the posts l0, while a platform I4 is mounted between the lower portions of the posts. While a single pillow filling unit would suffice to illustrate the principle of the machine, the latter is preferably made as a twin-unit assembly and so illustrated in the drawings. Thus, the body i3 is formed with two compartments i5 and the arranged side by side, each of these receiving a cover it hinged at the rear, as indicated at H. As the covers are required to remain open for the application and removal of the pillow, they are counterweighted as indicated at It to remainat any height to which they are raised or lowered.

Each compartment is designed to receive a pillow case Hi to be filled, the case opening toward the rear as indicated in Fig. 4. The down or other filling material is usually piled at or shoved toward the rear of the machine to gather over a centrally-positioned floor level receiver 20. Di-

vergent pipes 2| rise from openings in the receiver and are formed at the top with forward bends 22 which enter the rear of the compartments [5 and EM to a partial extent, as indicated at 23.

When a pillow case ill in a given compartment is to be connected for filling purposes, the mouth of the case is wrapped and closely folded around the corresponding inlet pipe 23 as indicated in Figs. 4 and 6. Each compartment (IS-45a) contains a lower yoke 24 hinged to the floor at 25 andnormally folded down to lie on the floor, as indicated in Fig. 8. However, when the mouth of the pillow casehas been wrapped on the pipe 23 as stated, the yoke 2 is pulled up as shown at the left in Fig. 6, clamping the pillow case to the inlet pipe. Each compartment cover l6 carries an upper yoke 26 matching the lower yoke 24 and effective to complete the clamping of the pillow case when the cover is closed.

The front ends of the compartments [5 and I511. receive outlet pipes 21, which merge by means of inward elbows 28 into a manifold 29. The latter takes a downward course and turns rearwardly under the body l3 of the machine to connect with the receiving end of a suction pump or blower unit 30, whose outlet pipe 3| rises as indicated is now put in operation and the related shutter valve 36 pulled open. The result will be a powerful suction in the affected compartment, drawing the cover down tight and the down or other filling material up into the compartment by way of the receiver 20, the related pipe 2|, the inlet 23 and porous pillow case l9. Since the suction or lowered air pressure is a medium afiecting the entire compartment, the drawing influence on the filling material will be from all sides of the case, so that the latter will become uniformly lined and filled with the material. When no more material is drawn by the receiver 20, the indication will be that the pillow case has been filled. In this event the proper cover is raised clear and the filled pillow disconnected.

With the machine built to contain two filling units, as shown, filling operations may be materially expedited. Thus, the suction unit may be kept in constant operation and one pillow case connected while another is being filled and vice versa, keeping an attendant steadily employed and the filling process in rapid operation. It will be understood that keeping one, or even both of the shutter valves 36 closed while the suction unit is in operation will do no harm to the same, particularly to initiate filling operations.

It will be evident from the above description that we have provided a unique machine for efiiciently filling pillows. The machine departs from the directional principle of pressure filling by creating a low pressure in a compartment affecting the entire exposed area of the porous pillow case. The filling material is thus drawn to all parts of the case with the same degree of iniluence, procuring the uniform filling of the pillow. The machine for performing the work is sturdy, simple and easily portable to any point where an accumlation of the filling material is available; and the process is expedited by assembling the machine with the twin units, so that the attendant may be steadily employed and rapid production made economical. Finally, a compact, central1y-positioned receiver 20 is usable by the divergent extension of the pipes 2i therefrom.

While we have described the invention along specific lines, various minor changes or refinements may be made therein without departing from its principle, and we desire to consider such changes and refinements as coming within the scope and spirit of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. Apparatus for filling a pillow case or the like with loose material, comprising a casing having a horizontally disposed pillow receiving chamber of greater dimensions in all directions than the size of the pillow, a material inlet pipe extending into said chamber from one end thereof and spaced from the adjacent chamber wall portions, a suction pipe at the opposite end of said chamber, driven suction creating means attached to said suction pipe, a swingable closure for the top of said chamber, the said inlet pipe being adapted to have disposed therearound the open end of a pillow or the like which is to be filled with material from the inlet pipe, a yoke-like clamp member pivoted to the floor of said chamber below the inlet pipe and having a pipe embracing recess in its upper edge adapted to engage a portion of the pillow which is disposed about the inlet pipe,

and a matching yoke secured to the under surface of the chamber cover and adapted to similarly engage the portion of the pillow about the upper part of the inlet pipe when the cover is closed, said yokes being disposed in opposition to one another when applied to the inlet pipe, and said inlet pipe having a material gathering portion.

2. Apparatus for filling a pillow case or the like with loose material, comprising a casing hav ing a pair of horizontally disposed pillow receiving chambers disposed side by side and each being of greater dimensions in all directions than the size of the pillow, a material inlet pipe extending into each of said chambers from one end thereof and spaced from the adjacent chamber wall portions, a suction pipe at the opposite end of each of said chambers, driven suction creating means attached to said suction pipe, a pair of convergently depending supply pipes connected with their upper ends to the outer end of each of said inlet pipes beyond the end of said casing, and a substantially horizontal and centrally-positioned floor-adjacent material receiver having laterally spaced openings receiving the lower ends of said supply pipes.

' DANIEL I-IUTTNER.

RICHARD S. KRAMER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 829,738 Robinson Aug. 28, 1906 998,291 Heyd July 18, 1911 1,027,570 Sheldon May 28, 1912 1,093,668 Weinberg Apr. 21, 1914 1,671,840 Puglisi May 29, 1928 1,800,493 Bauer Apr. 14, 1931 2,347,431 Pauly Apr. 25, 1944 

